Dear Christopher,
My mentor likes to refer to me as the Dermestid Queen. I never realized the
amount of emtomology a museum professional must study. I also get very
creeped out having to study bugs. I have only encounterd 3 live dermestids
in my short museum career, 2 of them being from yesterday and a few weeks
ago. Dermestids feed on all organic material. So you can find them on
wool, silk, leather, and any organic blend clothing or textiles. Also you
will mainly find their casing (after they molt out of it) or their frass
(droppings-but are very tiny and hard to see) Active vacuuming of your
textiles will help reduce the little buggers. They love to hide in hard to
reach places, love the dark, and molt out of their skin a few times before
maturing to the carpet beetle. If you have the resources a freezing
treatment will help to kill the larva and eggs. Not all materials can
withstand freezing. (certain objects can break or crack from the cold.
Check with a conservator before freezing anything if you are unfamiliar with
the process (you can't just throw Great Aunt Betty's 200 year old quilt into
your own freezer!!)
The best way to protect your collection is vigilant house keeping, allow no
real plants or flowers into your work space, isolate incoming collections to
check for infestations before they infest your collection, and a cleaning
schedule for your textiles (ie vacuuming). I hope that this has provided
you with some insight. Check out the website below to see scientific
information on the dermestid. (sorry you have to cut and past it, my
computer is acting very bizarre today.)
http://insects.tamu.edu/fieldguide/bimg154.html
Marielle
**********************
M. Fortier
Museum Registrar
Vermont
**********************
>From: C Reeves <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Nasty little buggers! I mean bugs... don't mean to offend!!!
>Date: Fri, 11 Mar 2005 09:57:20 -0500
>
>We've been discussing bats and bugs and so forth which really wigs me
>out...
>I'm a guy that can't stand bugs... bats no prob.. just mice with wings.
>
>I'm actually a history major with a concentration in forensics and I've
>worked too closely with dermestids than I've ever wanted. My questions are
>as follows:
>
> 1) What kind of collections do dermestids infest? I can
>automatically assume they get into biological exhibits (stuffed aminals (as
>my daughter says), but what else?
>
> 2) Are there preventative measures one could take to avoid
>infestations?
>
> 3) How do you get rid of the voracious little creatures if you do
>find them amongst your stuff?
>
>Please note, I do not have an infestation, so this is not a priority one
>situation. I'm a curious student.
>
> On that note, on behalf of all the students on the list (and I'm
>quite comfortable doing so), I would like to thank all the professionals
>and
>others employed in the field for taking time to help, guide, correct, and
>listen to those of us striving to be where you are. It gives us hope.
>
>Christopher Reeves
>
>
>--- As for the bats and squirrels... don't they make some sort of gadget
>that clicks or beeps to ward off fuzzy neighbors?
>
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